Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/520

* BBEHM. 458 BREITENFELD. oiler europaischen Vogel, 2 vols. (1S23-24): Ornis (1824-27); Handbuch fiir Liebhaber der Stiiben-, Haus- und aller der Ziihmung werten Viigel (1832); Der rollstiindige Vogelfang (1855) ; Die Eier der europaischen Vogel nach der Natitr gemalt (in collaboration with Bae- deker and Paessler, 1855-67). BBE'HON (Ir. hreathamh, breitheamh, from O. Ir. brithem, judge, from brelh, brath, decision, judgment) LAWS. The ancient laws of Ireland. In the form in which they have come down to ys, they consist of a collection of law tracts, which were compiled by diflerent hands and at different times, and comniitted to writing probably in the Tenth Century of our era. They derive their name from the Hrehoii, a. class of hereditary law- yers and judges, by whom they were preserved by oral tradition, "and ultimately embodied in written form. These tracts — the most important of which are the Seiwhus ilor, or 'Great Book of the Ancient Law,' and the Book of AiciU — con- sist of brief and sometimes rude statements of the law. often expressed in verse, accompanied by elaborate annotations and commentaries nuide by successive BreJion through whose hands they passed. In this way the primitive body of law was modified from generation to generation to conforai to the growth of the Irisli people in Christianity and civilization. In its original form this law does not differ widely from that of other earlv systems, such as the Twelve Tables of Rome, the' Mosaic Law, and the barbaric codes of the Middle Ages, most of its provisions having to do with crimes of violence, and the commutation of the penalty for such crimes by money or other paj-ments. The poet Spenser, in his View of the State of Ireland, written in 1596, describes the Brehon law as "a rule of right unwritten, but de- livered by tradition from one to another, in which oftentimes there appeareth great share of equity, in determining the right between party and par- ty, but in many things repugning quite both to God's law and" man's; as, for example, in the case of murder, the brehon— that is, their judge — will compound between the nuirderer and the friends of the party murdered, which prosecute the action, that the malefactor shall give unto them, or to the child or wife of him that is slain, a recompense, which they call an eric: by which vile law of theirs many murders amongst them are made up and smothered: and this judge be- ing, as he is called, the lord's brehon. adjudgeth for the most part a better share imto his lord, that is, the lord of the soil, or head of the sept, and also, unto himself for his judgment, a greater portion than unto the plaintiffs or parties grieved." This characteristic PInglish utterance might have been modified if Spenser had been aware of the fact that pecuniary compensation for manslaughter was a salutary device of primi- tive society for mitigating the horrors and incon- veniences of private vengeance, and that it had prevailed in England as well as in all other Eu- ropean countries. (See Blood Feuij: Bi.ood- MoNKY.) As has been seen, he was mistaken, also, in believing that the Brehon laws were, at the period of his visit, an unwritten code, though the}' maj- still, in that backward state of society, have depended largely on tradition for their pres- ervation. Many manuscript collections of these laws, dating from the Fourteenth to the Sixteenth century, still exist in public and private libra- ries inEngUind, Ireland, und Belgium. The first translation into English was published in 1865- 69. ( See BRKTr.s AXD Scorrs. ) Sir Henry Sum- ner Maine has considered the primitive Irish law at length and with great learning in his Lectures on the Early History of Institutions (London, 1875). Consult also Ginnell, The Brehon Laics (London, 1894). BBEISACH, bri-zac' (anciently, Lat. Mons Brisiacus, possibly from Celt, brig, elevation, liill + Teut. aha, water), Alt. A very old town of the Grand Duchy of Baden, situated on an isolated basaltic hill, on the right bank of the Khine, about 12 miles west of Freiburg (Map: Germany, B 4). It is a tliriving little town with manufactures of wall-paper, beer-brew- ing, wine manufactures, etc., and a trade in lumber and cattle. As early as the time of Julius CiEsar, Mons Brisiacus was known as a strong military position, and was taken by Ariovistus when he invaded Gaul. During the Middle Ages it frequently changed masters, and. after having been for a time a free imperial city, became a possession of the House of Austria. Its military importance made it a battle-ground for the French and Austrians in the Seventwmth and Eighteentli centuries. The Frencli destroyed its fortifications in 1744, and, during the War of the Revolution in 1793, burned the town. In 1805 the French handed it over to the House of Baden. Population, in 1890, about 3000; in 1900, 3500. Consult Coste, Notice historique sur la ville de Vieux-Brisach (Alulhouse, 1860). BBEISGAU, bris'gou (Ger. Brcis, for Breis- ach -t- tlau. district). A former district in the southwest corner of Germany which extended along the right bank of the Rhine and embraced Freiburg and the southem Black Forest. In the latter part of the Middle Ages, Austria became mistress of most of it. She was dispossessed in the Napoleonic wars, and since 1810 the whole of Breisgau has been a part of Baden. BBEITBACH, brifbiic, Karl ( 1833-1904). A German painter. He was born in Berlin, and was a pupil of the Academy of .Vrt. in that city, and of Couture, in Paris. He settled in Berlin, where he devoted liimself to landscape, genre, and portrait painting. The following are among his principal works: "Mill of Saint-Ouen, near Paris;" "Park of Trianon;" "Autumn Evening in the Weser Valley;" "Sunrise in the Bavarian Highlands;" "Klrmess-Joy ;" "Kirmess-Woe;" "At the Fortune-Teller's;" "In the Village Tav- ern;" and portraits of Intendant General von Hulsen. the painter Theodore Weber, and others. BBEITENFELD, bri'tcn-felt (Ger. breit, broiid + Feld, plain, field; referring to the plain near by). A village in Saxony, about five miles north of Leipzig, noted as the scene of two bat- tles between the Swedes and the forces of the German Empire. On September 17 (new style), 1631, Gustavus Adolphus and the Elector of Sax- ony overthrew Tilly at Breitenfeld, shattered his arniv, and saved the cause of Protestantism, which had been imperiled by the fall of Magde- burg. Eleven years later, November 2, 1642, Torstenson, the pupil of Gustavus, signally de- feated the Archduke Leopold and General Picco- lomini on the same spot. Breitenfeld also had some of the fighting around Leijizig in October, 1813. Con.iult Opitz, Die Schlacht bet Breiten- feld 1631 (Leipzig, 1892).